Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Detroit Lions

Detroit sports teams are one of my favorite topics -- and in the case of the Lions one of the most painful. The recent signings of Kenoy Kennedy and Marcus Pollard, though, have given the off-season Lions fan a reason to hope. Although I was certainly not a fan of Matt Millen's start as the man in charge of Lions' personnel (that 2-14 record didn't happen on its own), I really think he has the team on the right track. There are many fewer obvious holes in the lineup than there were even two years ago. They need to make a couple moves to help the offensive line, get another playmaker in the secondary, and grab a good backup QB. Backup quarterback, you say? Ah, the elusive backup quarterback. It's interesting the way the idea that one of the biggest team needs is a backup QB has taken on a life of its own. It's always good to have a guy who can step in and play well if the main guy gets injured, but other than that the idea is overrated. The Lions are only going to win big this year if Joey Harrington is the man. They might get to 8-8 or 9-7 with him playing decent, but if they want to go any farther than that, he must excel. Will he? I have no idea. The one thing I'll say is that for all the criticism of him over the last couple of years, he hasn't exactly been throwing to Rice, Taylor, and Jones. Or Irvin, Harper, and Novacek. Or...You get the idea. This year, he will have plenty of experience, Roy Williams, Marcus Pollard, hopefully Charles Rogers, and a solid running game. This is the year for Joey to show that he can be a winner -- and signing Brad Johnson, as nice of an insurance policy as that would be, is not going to matter a bit if Harrington goes down in flames.